Development of Writing

Sumerian Period

Sargon and the Akkadian Realm

2350 BCE - 2160 BCE

-Semitic language
-Sargon known as "Great King"
-Installed Akkadian-speaking governors in cities under his control, where they collected tribute and worked to impose his will
-Merged central and southern Mesopotamian cultures so well that only differences were languages spoken

Minoan Period

2000 BCE - 1400 BCE

-Minoan civilization was the contemporary of Egypt's Middle Kingdom and the Hittite Old Kingdom
-Protected by surrounding sea
-'Palace'-based society
-Crete was safe haven
-Spoke Linear A

Indo-Europeans Migrate

Approx. 2000 BCE

-From Southern Russia
Exploited horses and chariot technology
-Pastoralists
-Expanded all over the world

Reign of Hammurabi

1792 BCE - 1750 BCE

-Established Old Babylonian Empire
-Unified territories through worship of ruler-god Marduk
-First to launch wars of aggression justified in the name of his primary god
-Hammurabi's Code

Mycenaean Period

1600 BCE - 1100 BCE

-Spoke Linear B
-Society decisively influenced Minoan cultural, religious, and political models
-Citadels were both centers of government and warehouses for the storage and redistribution of goods and agricultural surpluses
-Earned prestige as warriors and mercenaries
-Greek's ancestors
-Civilization collapsed at end of 13th century
-Allowed for rise of 'Sea People'

Dark Age

1100 BCE - 800 BCE

-Homer as a soucre
-Iron Age descriptions
-Hesiod
-Development of iron as bronze runs out
-Largest settlements of 1-2k
-Basileis + dependent villagers

Archaic Age

800 BCE - 500 BCE

-Quickened pace of international trade
-Sustained growth from Iran to Iberia
-Role of climate
-Polis
-Embodiment of its citizens
-Equality for some
-'Mafiocracy'
-Debt bondage

Life of Solon

638 BCE - 558 BCE

-Traditional elite
-Wanted to quell excessive competition among aristocracy
-Reached out to non-traditional sectors
-Launched series of reform
-Property classes based on net worth
-Brought in all citizens to assembly and jury court
-Regulate private practice
-Abolished debt-bondage
-Fixes problems of new money
-Expanding world of Homer's polis

Cyrus Frees Hebrew Slaves

539 BCE

-Slaves held captive in Babylon since 586 BCE

Cyrus Dies

530 BCE

-Dies in battle

Darius Reigns as Leader of Persian Empire

521 BCE - 486 BCE

-Improved administration of the Persian state
-Divided empire into provinces
-Like Cyrus, allowed people of the empire to retain most of their local institutions while enforcing a standardized central currency and a system of weights and measures

Reforms of Cleisthenes

508 BCE - 507 BCE

Wars

Cyrus Invades Mesopotamia

539 BCE

Battle of Marathon

490 BCE

-Darius sent force to punish Athens for supporting uprising that took place by Greeks of Asia

Battle of Thermopylae

480 BCE

First Peloponnesian War

460 BCE - 446 BCE

Second Peloponnesian War

431 BCE - 404 BCE

Egypt

Predynastic Egypt

10,000 BCE - 3100 BCE

-Period before the emergence of Pharoahs

The Old Kingdom

2686 BCE - 2160 BCE

-All resources of Egypt belonged to Pharaoh
-Long distance trade controlled by Pharaoh
-Pharaoh kept tight control over nomarchs and their armies of lesser officials
-Writing was critical, so that gave rise to class of scribes
-Giant monuments for Pharaohs built during this time
-Geographic isolation
-Pyramid building

Great Pyramids Built

First Intermediate Period

Middle Kingdom

-Pharaoh with less prestige
-Expansion south to Nubia
-Invasions from abroad

Second Intermediate Period

1786 BCE - 1534 BCE

-Hyksos invaded
-Defeated by Egypt
-Egypt exposed to the world

The New Kingdom

1700 BCE - 1075 BCE

-Hyksos invaded Egypt and took over Lower Egypt (pre New Kingdom)
-New Kingdom began with removal of Hyksos from Egypt
-Egyptian civilization reached height of its magnificence and power
-Rise of aristocracy whose wealth was acquired through warfare and winning of lands and the slaves to work them
-New horse-powered battle chariots
-Hatshepsut